


How Did We Survive?

by rubyisms



Category: RWBY
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, M/M, POV Second Person
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-07
Updated: 2018-01-07
Packaged: 2019-03-01 18:22:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 981
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13300638
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rubyisms/pseuds/rubyisms
Summary: The world is crumbling into chaos around you, but in the midst of it all was him.You would die for him.





	How Did We Survive?

**Author's Note:**

> First fic of 2018, woo!

The world descends into chaos the night Haven falls. First Beacon and Vale, now Haven. Mistral collapses into anarchy that night with the council’s authority declared moot. Huntsmen and Huntresses fall, Grimm take the city in swarms, and the kingdom is lit ablaze among the chaos.

Or so you hear. In Atlas, you believe you’re safe. You were born and raised with a silver spoon in your mouth, fed lies and manipulated by your father, and had an upbringing far different than anything offered in Vale or Mistral. 

While you believe the general to be a fool (or were those your father’s lies?), you doubt the council of Atlas would fall like Vale and Mistral did. Mistral and Vale lacked the army Atlas has. They relied only on Huntsmen to defend their borders from Grim and other dangers. With an army in addition to the Huntsmen, Atlas could never fall.

You were wrong.

-

Atlas burns. Atlas crumbles and the high society life you knew is targeted first. Your home is safe at first, with people focusing on the building the company operated out of. Board members were executed, faunus workers set free and human workers taken as slaves or killed on sight, and the building burns. Then they turn to your home.

Klein gets you out of the manor in the chaos, but your mother and father are nowhere to be found. You later learn your mother burned in the manor. Your father was executed alongside the board members. You don’t cry for him, but you can’t stop crying for your mother. Klein is the only person who you could even call family who escapes Atlas with you. Your sisters, wherever they are, are still alive. You hope they are. You believe deep down they  _ have _ to be.

They had to be.

As the heir to the Schnee Dust Company after Weiss had been disowned, you were now wanted by the White Fang and the very same forces who brought about Atlas’ fall. You’re scared, but you’re not alone. Klein is with you, and despite all the fighting and bickering at first, he never leaves your side. You don’t know if it’s loyalty or a sense of honor against leaving someone alone and defenseless (but you hope it’s the first.)

What remains of Mistral, which is quite a bit, becomes the place you go to hide and blend in. A change of clothes, colored contacts, hair dye, and just a bit of time in the sun is enough to change your image enough to where you blend into the Mistral crowds easily. After a week, you hear Weiss has gone on the run and nothing of Winter.

You meet a boy. You’re both from two different worlds. He is a native to Mistral, with dark skin, dark hair, and eyes that swirled browns and greens together in a way that left you mesmerized. His freckles were a stark contrast to your perfect and flawless skin. His smile makes your insides churn, his laugh leaves your cheeks flushed and your heart pounding, and when he musters up the courage to steal a kiss, you’re left reaching to hold onto him and his shoulders for support. 

“Do you think there’s a place in this world for someone like me?” You ask someday while Klein is in another room. He looks at you, his eyes bright and wide, like you are the world to him.

“I do.”

Instincts tell you there’s more to Oscar Pine than meets the eye, but you overlook the cane for now. You overlook the way his hazel eyes always fade off into the distance as he falls into his thoughts. You overlook the way he talks to himself.

You know he overlooks everything about you. It was only fair you did the same.

-

“I’m Professor Ozpin.” 

You think he’s joking. You scan hazel eyes and sun kissed cheeks for a trace of something, but you only see a serious, hard gaze in his eyes. You only see his lips pressed in a tight stern line. It quickly dawns on you that Oscar is serious, and you’re not sure what to say.

“That’s ridiculous. He died when Vale fell.” The words tumbling out from your lips feel foreign, not quite your opinion but instead the one of your father. Truth be told, you’re not sure what happened to the headmaster. Only that he had vanished.

Oscar’s silent and his hands grip his knees. He shakes and struggles to swallow and when he looks up at you again, his eyes are glittering with tears he struggles to hold back. “I get it. It sounds crazy, I thought I  _ was _ crazy when it first happened.”

You can tell there’s more Oscar wants to say but he struggles to find the words. You struggle to find your own. A moment passes, and you move closer to sit beside him, placing your pale, cold hand over his tanned, warm one. “Okay.” You say at last. “Then I’ll stand by you.”

Oscar relaxes at that and he throws his arms around you, your own going around him. No words need to be spoken after your promise. You would stand by him for as long as he wanted you around. You would stand by him with your dying breath spent at his side.

And you do. For the years it takes reuniting with your family, and Oscar’s soul eventually merging into Ozpin’s, you swear your life to him. You learn to fight, how to use your aura and eventually unlock the Schnee family semblance. You fight Salem’s henchmen when they come with Oscar at your side. You fight until you taste blood, until the battle is won and you’re both sharing a moment of silence, struggling to heal. 

He needs you just as you need him. And you feel wanted with him.

You feel at home.

**Author's Note:**

> Comments are love!


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